SS 14 - Rethinking Environmental Covariates: How issues of Environmental Justice Shape Ecological Phenomena

Monday, August 15, 2022

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM EDT

Location: 520B

Organizer(s)

GG

Gabriel Gadsden

PhD Graduate Student
Yale University, United States

Speaker(s)

GG

Gabriel Gadsden

PhD Graduate Student
Yale University, United States

Co-organizer(s)

AB

Anjali D. Boyd, n/a

PhD Student
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina, United States

Moderator(s)

AB

Anjali D. Boyd, n/a

PhD Student
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina, United States

Speaker(s)

DG

Dr. Carressa Gerald

North Carolina Central University, United States
DP

Dr. Stephanie Poindexter

University at Buffalo, United States
MB

Miranda Bernard

Duke University, United States

Session Description: In ecology, framing of environmental variables continually happens as standalone measurements such as distance to road, distance to water, building density, and NDVI. While these variables inform a suite of ecological queries (i.e., home range estimates and fecundity), these variables are incomplete. Importantly, historic environmental variables lack grounding in the social-ecological realities of everyday life. Over the last thirty years, environmental justice has grown into a recognized discipline that challenges the notion that the environment happens in a vacuum but instead is shaped by cultural and social institutions often which prioritize particular people and places. If we assert, society shapes the environment and our culture is woefully unjust, how do issues of EJ relate to and influence ecological phenomena is a relevant line of inquiry? Studies have begun to support this idea of expanding what is considered an environment variable, notably Ghoddousi et al., 2020, which brought to our attention the social consideration of landscape connectivity. However, direct paths or even acknowledgment of how environmental justice intersects with ecology questions remains understated and understudied. In bridging this gap, not only can ecologists broaden their understanding of ecological sensations, but we advance the issues of environmental justice in tandem; that have implications for people and wildlife alike.